Thum is a small town in the district of

Erzgebirgskreis Erzgebirgskreis is a district ('' Kreis'') in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is named after the Erzgebirge ("Ore Mountains"), a mountain range in the southern part of the district which forms part of the Germany–Czech Republic border. I ...

, in the

Free State of Saxony Free may refer to: Concept * Freedom, having the ability to do something, without having to obey anyone/anything * Freethought, a position that beliefs should be formed only on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism * Emancipate, to procure ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Thum has a population of about 5800.

Geography

Thum is situated in the Erzgebirge, 10 km northwest of

Annaberg-Buchholz Annaberg-Buchholz () is a town in Saxony, Germany. Lying in the Ore Mountains, it is the capital of the district of Erzgebirgskreis. Geography The town is located in the Ore Mountains, at the side of the ''Pöhlberg'' ( above sea level). Hi ...

, and 19 km south of

Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt , ) is the third-largest city in the German state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the 28th largest city of Germany as well as the fourth largest city in the area of former East Germany a ...

. The Jahnsbach, a tributary to the

Zschopau River The Zschopau (, cs, Sapava or Šopava ) is a 130-kilometre-long river in Saxony, Germany, and a left tributary of the Freiberger Mulde. The origin of the name is not precisely documented, possibly Slavic ''skapp''; ''rock'', ''cliff'' or sorb ...

runs through the town. To the north is Gelenau, east is

Drebach Drebach is a municipality in the district of Erzgebirgskreis, in Saxony, Germany. It consists of the ''Ortsteile'' (divisions) Drebach, Grießbach, Im Grund, Scharfenstein, Spinnerei, Venusberg, Wilischthal and Wiltzsch.Ehrenfriedersdorf Ehrenfriedersdorf () is a town in the district of Erzgebirgskreis, in Saxony, Germany. It is situated 8 km northwest of Annaberg-Buchholz, and 21 km south of Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt , ) is the third-la ...

. The

Greifensteine The Greifensteine is a rock tower in the Ore Mountains, Germany, between the towns of Geyer, Ehrenfriedersdorf and Jahnsbach. The highest of the seven granite rocks reaches 731 m. Another six rock towers were demolished by quarrying, which ended ...

area lies to the south west, and

Hormersdorf Hormersdorf is a former municipality in the district Erzgebirgskreis, in Saxony, Germany. Since 1 January 2013, it is part of the town Zwönitz. Dialect clock In Hormersdorf a "" (Ziffer clock) was installed that displays the time of day in the ...

and Auerbach are to the west.

History

Thum was first mentioned 1389 in historic records of the

archdiocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

. From the 14th century,

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...

in the once densely forested Erzgebirge steadily increased, and a history book of 1445 describes Thum as a small

town. Several

placer deposit In geology, a placer deposit or placer is an accumulation of valuable minerals formed by gravity separation from a specific source rock during sedimentary processes. The name is from the Spanish word ''placer'', meaning "alluvial sand". Placer min ...

s, two

stamp mill A stamp mill (or stamp battery or stamping mill) is a type of mill machine that crushes material by pounding rather than grinding, either for further processing or for extraction of metallic ores. Breaking material down is a type of unit operatio ...

s and 27 mines were in the area of Thum. Considerable amounts of

Axinite Axinite is a brown to violet-brown, or reddish-brown bladed group of minerals composed of calcium aluminium boro-silicate, . Axinite is pyroelectric and piezoelectric. The axinite group includes: *Axinite-(Fe) or ferroaxinite, Ca2Fe2+Al2BOSi4O15( ...

were found, which initially was given the name ''Thumit''.Chronicle of Thum
/ref> In 1469 the citizens of Thum acquired

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

. The last battle of the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

was fought on January 15, 1648, near Thum. The destruction caused by the war resulted in mining no longer being sustainable. With the run-down of ore-mining in the area, Thum (like many other towns and villages in the Erzgebirge) turned to wooden toy manufacture - such as

Schwibbogen A ''schwibbogen'' (, from Middle High German ', "to hover") is a decorative candle-holder from the Ore Mountains (''Erzgebirge'') region of Saxony, Germany. The first metal ''schwibbogen'' was made in 1740 in Johanngeorgenstadt. The early cand ...

and

Christmas pyramid Christmas pyramids (german: Weihnachtspyramide) are Christmas decorations that have their roots in the folklore and customs of the Ore Mountain region of Germany, but which have become popular internationally. They comprise a decorated pyramidal ...

s - as well as "klöppeln" as a matter of economic survival. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the

textile industry The textile industry is primarily concerned with the design, production and distribution of yarn, cloth and clothing. The raw material may be natural, or synthetic using products of the chemical industry. Industry process Cotton manufacturi ...

was the main source of income for Thum. In 1886, a

narrow gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structur ...

connected Thum to Wilischthal. This

Thumer Netz The Thumer Netz was a narrow gauge railway network in the area around Thum in Saxony, Germany that operated from 1886 until 1975. It had a gauge. Total length was about . This network had three segments that connected three standard gauge sta ...

was part of the

narrow gauge railways in Saxony The narrow-gauge railways in Saxony were once the largest single-operator narrow-gauge railway network in Germany. In Saxony, the network peaked shortly after World War I with over of tracks. At first, it was primarily created to connect the sma ...

and was expanded throughout the early 20th century. The ''Rittergut'' ( manor) of ''Dorfthum'' was incorporated into Thum in 1879. With the zoning reforms in the 1990s, the neighbouring ''

Reihendorf The ''Reihendorf'' ("row village" or ribbon development, plural: ''Reihendörfer'') or ''Hufendorf'' ("oxgang village") is the name used of a particular form of linear settlement in German-speaking countries that is characterized by rows of houses ...

'' villages of ''Jahnsbach'' and ''Herold'' were incorporated into Thum.

Historical Brewery ("Dampfbrauerei")

The original brewery, founded in the 14th century, was the property of the church until 1546 when it was acquired by the town, and a brewing

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

was formed. This cooperative dissolved in 1882, and

brewer Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with yeast. It may be done in a brewery by a commercial brewer, ...

William Böttger bought the buildings and inventory. He built new brewery buildings in 1898 and increased production to 15,000 hecto litres. After the death of Böttger, in 1926 his widow sold the brewery back to the town of Thum, which was unable to find a buyer. This ended the long brewing tradition in Thum. In 2000, the brand was revived under the name of ''Thumer Lager''. It is now being brewed using the original recipe by a brewery in

Coat of arms

Notable persons

Tobias Clausnitzer Tobias Clausnitzer (5 February 1619 − 7 May 1684) was a German Lutheran pastor and hymn writer. Leben und Wirken Born in Thum, Clausnitzer studied theology at the University of Leipzig from 1642. In 1644, he became military chaplain (''Feldpr ...

( February 5, 1619 in Thum – May 7, 1684 in

Weiden in der Oberpfalz Weiden in der Oberpfalz (official name: Weiden i.d.OPf.; Northern Bavarian: ''Weidn in da Owapfalz'') is a district-free city in Bavaria, Germany. It is located east of Nuremberg and west of the Czech border. A branch of the German Army is locat ...

) *

Edgar Barth Wilfried Edgar Barth (26 January 1917 in Herold – 20 May 1965 in Ludwigsburg) was a German (East German until 1957, then West German) Formula One and sports car racing driver. Racing career Barth was born in Herold. He began his care ...

(January 26, 1917 Herold (Thum)– May 20, 1965,

Ludwigsburg Ludwigsburg (; Swabian: ''Ludisburg'') is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about north of Stuttgart city centre, near the river Neckar. It is the largest and primary city of the Ludwigsburg district with about 88,000 inhabitants. It is ...

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

and

sports car racing Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing which utilises sports cars that have two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be purpose-built prototypes or grand tourers based on road-going models. Broadly speaking, sports car racing is ...

driver. *

Jürgen Barth Jürgen Barth (born 10 December 1947 in Thum, Saxony) is a German former racecar driver. He is the son of Formula One driver and sports car racer Edgar Barth. Barth started out as an engineer but became one of the most successful drivers in ...

(born December 10, 1947, in Thum), a German engineer, sports car racer and

24 Hours of Le Mans The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused Sports car racing, sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance r ...

winner. The son of Edgar Barth.

References

External links

City of Thum
{{Authority control Erzgebirgskreis